Weekly Update: Nov 21, 2019

Another quiet week here in northern Florida, with a mix of weather so hot we were in the pool, so cold we had the heat on, and so rainy that things got pretty muddy outside the Alto, all in the space of seven days. Go figure. And then walking around the neighborhood, I saw this and I don’t quite know what to make of it.

I’m also not sure what to do with this, a magazine display at the local Publix grocery store. It’s a little different than I’m used to being what some might call a #liberalsnowflake (and I’m fine with that).

Then again, I never saw anything like this in California…

It all kind of leaves me feeling like this piece at a local art exhibition…

Between the local scene and the shambles that were the state election results, it’s going take me a while to figure out where I fit in here in Florida. For now, I’m taking the advice of another display at the art show. Not sure what it means, but I think it means I can do anything I want, right?

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.

Annie, I copied your wonderful quote from Audre Lorde to my Facebook page. Her words impart to me a bit of steel and a swoop of joy, affirming my humble goals each day.

You offer some sobering views today. On occasion, I wonder if we are all foreigners in our own land, as quickly as habits and families and friendships and livelihoods are changing. And there is much good in that change, witness the Altoistes! But I wonder whether “belonging” somewhere is now mostly constructed myth … whether it is the myth of shared identity today as I enjoy a chat about a friend’s success getting her electric vehicle … or whether it is the “us” that shares concealed weapons magazines. I am not saying that that is all equivalent, but there is an urgent edge and fun exuberance to both experiences that is similar. And there goes that polarization thing again.

Mapping vehicle, I think. Does 360 street views as on Google maps but municipalities use them to georeference utilities and the like so there are lots of private companies offering that kind of services. Hth Barb